Cape Colony

¹ Dutch was the sole official language until 1806, when the British officially replaced Dutch with English. Dutch was reincluded as a second official language in 1882.

The Cape Colony of the future South Africa was established by the Dutch East India Company (not by the Netherlands, as is often mistakenly presumed) in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied in 1795, and finally just taken in 1806 by the British - the period immediately before and during the Napoleonic Wars. It was coextensive with the later Cape Province, stretching from the Atlantic coast inland and eastward along the southern coast, constituting about half of modern South Africa: the final eastern boundary, after several wars against the Xhosa, stood at the Fish River. In the north, the Orange River, also known as the Gariep River, served for a long time as the boundary, although some land between the river and the southern boundary of Botswana was later added to it.

1 History
2 Government
3 Provinces
4 Geography
5 Economy
6 Culture
7 See also
8 References

[edit] History

Cape Colony History
Pre-1806
1806–1870
1870–1899
1899–1910

The history of Cape Colony started in 1652 with the founding of Cape Town by Dutch commander Jan van Riebeeck, working for the Dutch East India Company, known in Dutch as the "Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie" (VOC).

Napoléon occupied the Seven Provinces of the Netherlands in 1795, or the mother country of the Dutch East India Company. This prompted Great Britain to occupy the territory in 1795 as a tactic in the Napoleonic Wars. The Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie transferred its territories and claims to the Batavian Republic in 1798 and ceased to exist in 1799. Improving relations between Great Britain and Napoleonic France, and its vassal state the Batavian Republic, led the British to hand Cape Colony over to the Batavian Republic in 1803 (under the terms of the Treaty of Amiens).

In 1806, the Cape, now nominally controlled by the Batavian Republic, was occupied again by the British in the Battle of Blaauwberg. The temporary peace between Britain and Napoleonic France had crumbled into open hostilities, whilst Napoleon had been strengthening his influence on the Batavian Republic (which Napoleon would subsequently abolish later the same year). The British hoped to keep Napoleon out of the Cape, and to control the Far East trade routes.

They set up a British colony on 8 January, 1806. Cape Colony remained under British rule until the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, when it became the Cape of Good Hope Province, better known as the Cape Province.

[edit] Government

The title of the founder of the Cape Colony, Jan van Riebeeck, was "Commander of the Cape", a position which he held from 1652 to 1662. He was succeeded by a long line of both Dutch and British colonial administrators, depending on who was in power at the time:

(Note: all subsequently listed persons held the post of Governor, unless otherwise noted.)

Dutch East India Company colony:
- Jan van Riebeek (as Commander of the Cape) (1652 - 1662)
- Simon van der Stel (as Commander of the Cape) (1679 - 1691)
- Simon van der Stel (as Governor of the Cape) (1691 - 1699)
- Willem Adriaen van der Stel (1699 - 1707)
- Ryk Tulbagh (1751-1771)
British colony (1st time):
- George Macartney, Earl Macartney (1797 - 1798)
- Francis Dundas (1st time) (acting) (1798 - 1799)
- Sir George Yonge (1799 - 1801)
- Francis Dundas (2nd time) (acting) (1801 - 1803)
Batavian Republic (Dutch) colony:
- Jacob Abraham Uitenhage de Mist (1803 - 1804)
- Jan Willem Janssens (1803 - 1806)
British colony (2nd time):
- Sir David Baird (acting) (1806 - 1807)
- Henry George Grey (1st time) (acting) (1807)
- Du Pré Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon (1807 - 1811)
- Henry George Grey (2nd time) (acting) (1811)
- Sir John Francis Cradock (1811 - 1814)
  - Robert Meade (acting for Cradock) (1813 - 1814)
- Charles Somerset (1814 - 1826)
  - Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin (acting for Somerset) (1820 - 1821)
- Richard Bourke (acting) (1826 - 1828)
- Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole (1828 - 1833)
- Thomas Francis Wade (acting for D'Urban from 10 Jan 1834) (1833 - 1834)
- Benjamin d'Urban (1834 - 1838)
- Sir George Thomas Napier (1838 - 1844)
- Sir Peregrine Maitland (1844 - 1847)
- Sir Henry Pottinger (1847)
- Sir Harry Smith (1847 - 1852)
- George Cathcart (1852 - 1854)
- Charles Henry Darling (acting) (1854)
- Sir George Grey (1854 - 1861)
  - Robert Henry Wynyard (1st time) (acting for Grey) (1859 - 1860)
- Robert Henry Wynyard (2nd time) (acting) (1861 - 1862)
- Sir Philip Edmond Wodehouse (1862 - 1870)
- Charles Craufurd Hay (acting) (1870)
- Sir Henry Barkly (1870 - 1877)
- Henry Bartle Frere (1877 - 1880)
- Henry Hugh Clifford (acting) (1880)
- Sir George Cumine Strahan (acting) (1880 - 1881)
- Hercules Robinson (1st time) (1881 - 1889)
  - Sir Leicester Smyth (1st time) (acting for Robinson) (1881)
  - Sir Leicester Smyth (2nd time) (acting for Robinson) (1883 - 1884)
  - Sir Henry D'Oyley Torrens (acting for Robinson) (1886)
- Henry Augustus Smyth (acting) (1889)
- Henry Brougham Loch (1889 – 1895)
  - Sir William Gordon Cameron (1st time) (acting for Loch) (1891 - 1892)
  - Sir William Gordon Cameron (2nd time) (acting for Loch) (1894)
- Hercules Robinson (2nd time) (1895 - 1897)
- Sir William Howley Goodenough (acting) (1897)
- Alfred Milner (1897 - 1901)
  - Sir William Francis Butler (acting for Milner) (1898 - 1899)
- Walter Hely-Hutchinson (1901 - 1910)
  - Sir Henry Jenner Scobell (acting for Hely-Hutchinson) (1909)

The post of High Commissioner for Southern Africa was also held from 27 January 1847 to 31 May 1910 by the Governor of the Cape Colony. The post of Governor of the Cape Colony became extinct on 31 May 1910, when it joined the Union of South Africa.

The prime ministers of the Cape Colony were:

John Charles Molteno (1872 - 1878)
Sir John Gordon Sprigg (1st time) (1878 - 1881)
Thomas Charles Scanlen (1881 - 1884)
Thomas Upington (1884 - 1886)
John Gordon Sprigg (2nd time) (1886 - 1890)
Cecil Rhodes (1890 - 1896)
John Gordon Sprigg (3rd time) (1896 - 1898)
William Philip Schreiner (1898 - 1900)
John Gordon Sprigg (4th time) (1900 - 1904)
Leander Starr Jameson (1904 - 1908)
John X. Merriman (1908 - 1910)

The post of prime minister of the Cape Colony also became extinct on 31 May 1910, when it joined the Union of South Africa.